Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scandium Ore Occurrences in the Ancient Weathering Crust in the Nakyn Kimberlite Field of Yakutia

  • Published:
Geology of Ore Deposits Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the Malo-Botuobinsky, Sredne-Markhinsky, and Ygyattinsky diamond-bearing areas of the Western Yakutian kimberlite province, the prerequisites and signs of scandium deposits in ancient weathering crusts overlying Lower Paleozoic rocks and associated with zones of ancient reservoir and soil oxidation. According to X-ray fluorescence and ICP MS analyses, in the Nakyn kimberlite field of the Sredne-Markhinsky diamond-bearing region, promising ore occurrences and scandium concentration halos have been established in clay deposits of redeposited weathering crusts of the Dyakhtar Formation of Late Triassic–Early Jurassic age. They are confined to the erosional surface of Lower Paleozoic carbonate rocks and Middle Paleozoic traps, with monzonite porphyries and kimberlites cutting through them, covered on top by a sedimentary cover of Jurassic terrigenous deposits. Concentration anomalies of scandium in clays of the Dyakhtar Formation are localized mainly in deluvial clay deposits of paleowatersheds and gravitate to the intersections of tectonic disturbances. The depth of their occurrence does not exceed 100 m, which is quite favorable for the extraction of scandium by borehole in situ leaching. Concentrations of scandium were detected at one of the sites before 262 g/t in Late Triassic weathering crust, including material from a Middle Paleozoic gabbro dike, as well as overlying colluvial clays of the Dyakhtar formations with a maximum of 462 g/t.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 8.

REFERENCES

  1. Bykhovskii, L.Z., Potanin, S.Zh., Kotel’nikov, E.I., Anufrieva, K.I., et al., Redkozemel’noe i skandievoe syr’e Rossii (Rare Earth and Scandium Raw Material of Russia), Moscow: VIMS, 2018.

  2. Chasse, M., Griffin, W.L., O`Reilly, S.Y., and Calas, G., Scandium speclation in a world-class lateritic deposit, Geochem. Perspect. Lett., 2017, vol. 3, pp. 105–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dobycha urana podzemnym vyshchelachivaniem v kriolitozone (Uranium Mining by Underground Leaching in Cryolithozone), Solodov, I.N, Eds., Moscow: ZetaPrint, 2022.

  4. Grakhanov, O.S., Structure, Composition, and Conditions of Formation of Early Mesozoic Buried Diamond Placers in the Srednii Markha District, Western Yakutia, Extended Abstract of Candidate’s (Geol.-Min.) Dissertation, Mirnyi, 2010.

  5. Ignatov, P.A., Eremenko, R.U., Tolstov, A.V., and Ovchinnikov, I.M., Prospects of discovery of scandium deposits in the Yakutsk diamond province, Gorn. Zh., 2022, no. 7, pp. 12–21.

  6. Kiselev, A.I., Egorov, K.N., Chernyshov, R.A., Chashchukhin, A.V., and Yanygin, Yu.T., Manifestation of fluid-explosion disintegration of mafic rocks in the Nakyn kimberlite field (Yakutsk diamond province), Tikhookean. Geol., 2004, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 97–104.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Konoplev, A.D., Tolstov, A.V., Vasil’ev, A.T., Nechelyustov, G.N., Kuz’min, V.I., Sklyadneva, V.M., Dubinchuk, V.T., Konopleva, E.V., and Sidorenko, G.A., Localization of rare-metal mineralization at the Tomtor deposit, Redkometal’no-uranovoe rudoobrazovanie v osadochnykh porodakh (Rare Metal—Uranium Ore Formation in Sedimentary Rocks), Moscow: 1995, pp. 223–241.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kravchenko, S.M., Belyakov, A.Yu., Kubyshev, A.I., and Tolstov, A.V., Scandium—rare-earth—yttrium—niobium ores as a New Type of Rare metal raw material, Geol. Rudn. Mestorozhd., 1990, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 105–109.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Lapin, A.V. and Tolstov, A.V., Oxidizing and reducing stages of the formation of supergene zone of carbonatites and their ore potential, Geol. Rudn. Mestorozhd., 1991, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 81–91.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lapin, A.V., Kulikova, I.M., and Tolstov, A.V., Distribution of REE, Y, Sc, and Th in the unique complex rare-metal ores of the Tomtor deposit, Geochem. Int., 2016, vol. 54, no. 12, pp. 1061–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lazareva E.V., Zhmodik S.M., Dobretsov N.L., Tolstov A.V., Shcherbov B.L., Karmanov N.S., Gerasimov E.Yu., Bryanskaya A.V. Major minerals of abnormally high-grade ores of the Tomtor deposit (Arctic Siberia), Russ. Geol. Geophys., 2015, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 844–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Nikulin, I.I, and Savko, A.D., Litologiya almazonosnykh nizhneyurskikh otlozhenii Nakynskogo kimberlitovogo polya (Zapadnaya Yakutiya) (Lithology of the Diamondiferous Lower Jurassic Deposits of the Nakyn Kimberlite Field (Western Yakutia)), Voronezh: Voronezhsk. Gos. Univ., 2009.

  13. Protsenko, E.V., Structural-Tectonic Tendencies in the Localization of Diamond Kimberlite Fields within the Vilyui—Markha Metallogenic Zone (West Yakutia), Extended Abstract of Candidate’s (Geol.-Min.) Dissertation, Moscow: TsNIGRI, 2020.

  14. Teitler, Y., Cathelineaua, M., Ulrichb, M., Ambrosic, J.P., Munozd, M., and Sevine, B., Petrology and geochemistry of scandium in new Caledonian Ni–Co laterites, J. Geochem. Explor., 2019, vol. 196, pp. 131–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Tolstov, A.V., Lapin, A.V., Pokhilenko, N.P., and Ovchinnikov, K.V., Scandium and yttrium of the Tomtor ore field, Tsvet. Metallurg., 2015, no. 4, pp. 37–43.

  16. Williams-Jones, A.E. and Vasyukov, O.V., The economic geology of scandium, the runt of the rare earth element litter, Econ. Geol., 2018, vol. 113, no. 4, pp. 973–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Yanin, E.P., Scandium in the environment: distribution, technogenic source, and secondary resources, Probl. Okruzh. Sredy Prir. Resur., 2007, no. 8, pp. 70–90.

  18. Wang Zhenchao, Li Yan Hei Martin, Liu Ray Ze-Rui, and Zh, U., Mei-Fu scandium: ore deposits, the pivotal role of magmatic enrichment and future exploration, Ore Geol. Rev., 2021, vol. 128. Paper 103906, pp. 1–15.

  19. Zinchuk, N.N., Kory vyvetrivaniya i vtorichnye izmeneniya kimberlitov Sibirskoi platform (Weathering Crust and Secondary Alterations of Kimberlites of the Siberian Platform), Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk. Univ., 1994.

Download references

Funding

The work was carried out with financial support from the Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 23-27-00280.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ordzhonikidze Russian State Geological Prospecting University, 117485, Moscow, Russia

    P. A. Ignatov & R. U. Eremenko

  2. Institute of Geology of Diamond and Precious Metals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 677000, Yakutsk, Russia

    A. V. Tolstov

  3. AO ALROSA, 678181, Mirny, Russia

    I. M. Ovchinnikov

Authors
  1. P. A. Ignatov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. U. Eremenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. V. Tolstov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. I. M. Ovchinnikov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to P. A. Ignatov, R. U. Eremenko or A. V. Tolstov.

Ethics declarations

The authors of this work declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note.

Pleiades Publishing remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ignatov, P.A., Eremenko, R.U., Tolstov, A.V. et al. Scandium Ore Occurrences in the Ancient Weathering Crust in the Nakyn Kimberlite Field of Yakutia. Geol. Ore Deposits 65, 595–604 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701523060053

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701523060053

Keywords:

Search

Navigation